Review: The Bling Ring

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★

“The Bling Ring” mostly centers on Marc (Israel Broussard). He’s new to a school that’s there to take in kids who’ve been in trouble with the system before, be it cheating, drugs or other run-ins with the law. His first day is a little rough; the spoiled Los Angeles teens that attend this school look down on him and his bad taste in fashion. He does catch the eye of Rebecca (Katie Cheng), a rich teen who is obsessed with pop culture, celebrities and fashion. Marc, Rebecca and another one of her friends, Chloe (Claire Julien), begin to hang out regularly and shop at high priced stores.

Despite being underage, they are allowed entrance to nightclubs along with two other friends Nicki (Emma Watson) and Sam (Tassia Farmiga), who are best friends that live together. They are both home schooled by Nicki’s mom (Leslie Mann). Together, this group makes up a team that’s representative of a stereotypical spoiled southern California rich teen.

One night, Rebecca gets the bright idea that they should find Paris Hilton’s house and go hang out there. They know she’s not home because of all the gossip websites that track celebrities every move. They easily gain access and enjoy their time hanging out pretending that they’re living this luxurious lifestyle just like Paris. They even steal some of her things. Breaking into Paris’s house turns into an addition and they’re soon breaking into many other homes owned by celebrities, such as Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan.

Sofia Coppola has put together a successful career for herself without living off her family’s name too much. She also seems to have divided audiences with her films. Some, like myself, love her work while others accuse her of making slowly paced films with dull and uninteresting characters. To each his own, I suppose. I can see how her films could come across as such but I do think “The Bling Rings” finds a nice balance. Those who love her work should still find all those elements that make her films great, while those who find her work tedious should find this more interesting and faster paced.

Coppola’s stories tend to center around the common person, moreso than people with some kind of a special talent or ability. After all, she grew up around one of the greatest minds cinema has ever known at a time when he was cranking out some of the greatest films ever made. She saw critics and fans alike fawn over her father in the 70s, and maybe would have seen someone take their admiration a little too far.

Media coverage of celebrities today is 24/7. TMZ and Twitter have caused people’s admiration of celebrities to reach obsessive levels. It doesn’t surprise me that Coppola was drawn to this story. With the “The Bling Ring”, Coppola has taken a snapshot of five spoiled kids raised in a world without consequence, shows them committing crime after crime with no remorse and then gets us to feel sorry for them. That’s no easy feat.

We can easily empathize with them and their celebrity obsession. How often do we tune in when we hear the latest celebrity gossip and try to learn more about their latest disaster? Most of us are constantly trying to find out more and more about famous people. Jealous of their bank accounts, but not the lifestyles they lead. The five young people in this film have taken their obsession to a criminal level which in turn becomes an addiction. This is a problem many people in our society have with different vices. This topic could have been shown in many different ways; Coppola chose to use celebrity obsession.

But there’s no stance being taken here. There’s no point or moral lessons that’s being imposed on the audience. Once again, Coppola is showing her brilliance by stepping back and just showing us a snapshot of their lives. She’s just observing, and we’re along for the ride.

Emma Watson is the only big name performer of the five teens. She’s sensational in her performance. Her role is that of a snotty girl who, like the rest of her friends, is obsessed with partying and fashion. You don’t want to like her, but she plays the part with just the right amount likeability that we do pity her. But not too much.

This is the first big time role for both Israel Broussard and Katie Cheng and they sell their performances just as well as their seasoned co-star Watson. Broussard plays the part timidly and he’s by far the most likeable person in the group. He wants to fit in and he really wants to be liked by Cheng’s character. Cheng is manipulative and emotionally abusive. The range of emotion and characterization between all roles here is vast and wide. The young cast sells this very well.

“The Bling Ring” doesn’t ever really find the right buttons to push to really kick that empathy level up that all filmmakers are looking to do. Given the characters she’s written, however, Coppola does come very close. Her screenplay and her observant film style have come together nicely with this film. That’s something that people who find her work boring will surely be able to latch onto this time.